Bike Thefts are not on the Rise in Toronto, but if you live in one of these areas a bike lock may be a great investment

Tips for Toronto Cyclists to Prevent Bike Thefts

Author

Talia Fabregas

What Toronto neighborhoods did bike thieves target?

City built designated bike parking in areas with more cyclists.

Neighborhoods

The Toronto neighborhoods that had the most bike thefts between 2014 and 2023 are in the downtown core.

Although we saw consistent trends in the breakdown of yearly bike thefts by premise type between 2014 and 2023 across the City of Toronto, different neighbourhoods have different high-theft premises. There is variation among the top 10. Most bike thefts in the Yonge-Bay corridor took place outside or by a commercial building; this makes sense because there are very few residential buildings in that area and many office buildings. It is likely the busiest area of Toronto

There are different premise type patterns among the top 10 Toronto neighbourhoods with the most bike thefts since 2014. The bars show the total number of bike thefts and the different colours within each bar show the number of bike thefts per premise type in that neighbourhood since 2014.

This section focuses on 2023 because the bike parking location data I obtained is from 2023. Bike parking locations in 2023 may not have existed back in 2014.

5 most affected neighborhoods and premises where bikes were stolen from in 2023

North York, near Yonge and Finch, saw a high concentration of bike thefts in 2023. This is particularly concerning because the bike parking facility data obtained from Open Data Toronto shows no City of Toronto bike parking facilities in that area or at that intersection. This indicates that cyclists who live in the neighbourhoods surrounding Yonge Street in North York may be at a higher risk of having their bikes stolen. If you are a cyclist who lives in North York near Yonge Street and you leave your bike outside at any time of day, it might be a good idea to invest in an effective bike lock.

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Premises

Timing

What does this mean for Toronto cyclists?

Most areas have high numbers of bike thefts due to high cyclist volume

If you live, study, or teach in the University neighbourhood, consider double-locking your bike

North York is a quiet hot spot

Why the focus on neighbourhoods?